One of the best warm weather pleasures is swimming or relaxing at a swimming pool--whether it is a large public swimming pool or a swimming pool at a private home. The number of swimming pools is increasing rapidly, particularly the number of private pools of all kinds. In-ground and above-ground pools at private homes dot the landscape in both warm and temperate climates.
While the pleasures of a swimming pool are considerable, every swimming pool owner knows all too well about the continuing and arduous task of swimming pool upkeep. Without frequent, if not daily, action to clean a pool, its sides and bottom will soon be covered by algae, scum, and dirt of various other kinds.
The task of cleaning underwater pool surfaces, such as the pool walls, bottoms, and the edges and corners joining them, is very difficult. Implements of various kinds are used, including brushes and scrubbers, and so-called pool vacuums are often used to remove and capture (in a filter) dislodged dirt.
The work of dislodging dirt is very difficult because of the resistance of the water to scrubbing or other dislodging movements. Such action is particularly difficult in the rounded edges and corners of the pool. Edges and corners are, of course, usually at the bottom of the pool where the water is deepest, and are therefore usually the most difficult parts to clean because of the resistance of the water to scrubbing motions.
Cleaning of edges and corners is made even harder by the optical refraction which interferes with the normal coordination between sight and cleaning movements. This is made particularly difficult when the scrubbing tool itself, even when properly applied to an underwater edge or corner, does not provide the "feel" of proper engagement with that part of the pool surface.
Many swimming pool cleaning implements of the prior art do not function very well in cleaning underwater edges and corners of swimming pools. As a result, such areas, which are often the most prone to accumulate algae, scum, and other dirt, are often inadequately cleaned. Many swimming pool owners and others engaged in pool maintenance are well aware of the difficulties of cleaning pool edges and corners, and not a few have been known to wish they had never purchased their pools because of such difficulties.
The prior art includes a great variety of brush devices, including many brushes for specialized tasks. Included in the prior art are the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 59,932 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 176,018 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 313,776 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 378,784 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 389,531 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 554,339 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 630,844 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 637,328 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 857,038 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,084 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,915 PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,990
Despite the variety of brushes and cleaning devices in the prior art, there remains a substantial need for an improved swimming pool cleaning brush for cleaning underwater edges and corners which will overcome some of the aforementioned problems and deficiencies.